Tennis psychology is only understanding the workings of your opponent’s mind, and gauging the effect of your own game on his/her head and also understanding the psychological effects resulting from the various external causes on your own mind.
However, it is also true that you no one can be a successful psychologist of others without first understanding his own mental processes. Therefore, you must study the effect on yourself of the same thing happening under different circumstances. This is because you react differently in different moods and under different conditions.
You have to realize the effect on your game of the ensuing annoyance, pleasure, confusion, or whatever other form your reaction takes. Does it increase your prowess? If so, go for it, but never offer it to your opponent. Does it rob you of concentration? If so, either remove the reason, but if that isn’t possible, strive to ignore it.
After you have properly assessed your own reaction to circumstances, observe your opponents to determine their temperaments. Similar temperaments react in a like way, and you may judge people of your own kind by yourself. Different temperaments you have to try to compare with those people, whose reactions you are already familiar with.
A person who can control his/her own psychology stands an great chance of reading those of someone else for the minds works along definite lines of thought and can be examined. One can only regulate one’s own thought processes after studying them very carefully .
A steady, phlegmatic baseline player is rarely a quick thinker. If he were he would not stay on the baseline. The physical appearance of a player is usually a pretty clear indication of his/her type of mind. The stolid, easy-going player, who usually advocates the baseline game, does so because he hates to stir up his/her slow mind to think out a safe method of getting to the net.
However, then there is the other kind of baseline player, who would rather remain at the rear of the court while supervising an attack intending to break up your game. He is a very dangerous player and a deep, quick thinking opponent. He achieves his/her results by mixing up his/her length and direction and worrying you with the variance of his/her game. This player is a very good psychologist.
The first kind of tennis player mentioned above simply strikes the ball without much thought about what he is really up to, while the latter always has a definite strategy and sticks to it.
If you are into the psychology of tennis, you ought to go to our website entitled Tennis Tips for Beginners